Chapter 1 - He Took You Away From Me

The sunlight peeked through the slight gap of the curtains of the window, lighting up the small motes of dust drifting through the stale air of air conditioning. Keith shivered a little as he blinked sleep from his eyes. He'd gotten used to the warm, humid atmosphere of his apartment bedroom, with its not-working air conditioner. He snuggled back into the warmth behind him, savoring the body heat of his boyfriend. Said boyfriend tightened his hold, though Lance stayed asleep.

Keith laced his fingers with Lance's, which were resting on the mattress in front of his stomach. Thoughts drifted back to the evening before – the few days past – and his heart ached for Lance. His sweet sunshine. Who did everything he could to not let Keith see how much he was hurting. But, in spite of only knowing Lance for six weeks, Keith could read the open, young man. Keith could see it.

The smiles that never reached his eyes, the slight droop to shoulders usually drawn up in excitement, the slump to his posture, the little stress pimple on his chin (evidence Lance was neglecting his skin care), the dull sound of his usually bright and confident voice. All indicators Keith knew meant his boyfriend's confidence was shaken, and he felt a shot of anger jolt through him at the thought of anyone taking away Lance's light.

To make it worse, it was the two people Keith considered the most important people in his life.

It would end today. He was determined. Keith himself felt hurt and betrayed by the way Shiro and Pidge had behaved. He'd told Lance so many stories of how wonderful his brother and best friend were, only to have them prove him wrong. He knew things were tense where Lance was concerned with him, but he chalked it up to their over-protectiveness with a dash of jealousy. Certainly it would disappear once they actually met Lance and he wasn't just a name.

Yes, Shiro and Pidge would meet Lance and be completely charmed by him, because, who wouldn't be? Lance was the personification of goodness, and while Keith was biased about his boyfriend, he was aware enough to know it wasn't an exaggeration to say Lance was an utterly charming young man.

Yet this isn't what happened and Keith was disappointed in both of them. He knew they were both stubborn, but this was ridiculous and had to do with something more than Lance. Lance hadn't done anything, other than love Keith with all his heart. That thought took Keith's mood into a better place, his heart felt lighter, and he squeezed Lance's fingers gently.

Very carefully, he let go and turned under Lance's arm to face him, propping his elbow on the futon mattress to angle himself to look slightly down at his sleeping love. Keith smiled. Lance's mouth was open and his cheek was smooshed against the pillow, with a small ring of dampness indicating drool. The curls Lance tried desperately to keep straightened stuck out in angles from his head and a little grunt sound came out with every breath. He looked beautiful to Keith, in spite of the drool and the little pimple.

Keith reached up a finger to trace lightly against Lance's cheek, remembering the night before when that slack mouth opened to give Keith a blowjob. Curse Shiro for the interruption. He was excited Lance wanted to do that with him – he certainly wanted to do it to Lance – and he hoped they'd find some alone time soon to try it again.

He should get up and make breakfast. He glanced at the clock and figured Shiro and Allura should have already left for work. They both were only supposed to be there half the day. Keith didn't want to make breakfast for Shiro, but he would for everyone else. Right now, Shiro didn't deserve a good meal.

He carefully pulled away from Lance and climbed over him to get out of the bed, trying not to disturb the sleeping beauty. Lance stirred a bit and rolled onto his back. "Keithy?" he asked in a voice rough from sleep.

"Sorry to wake you, baby," he said, bending down to smooth some of the curls from Lance's forehead. "Get a little more sleep. I'll have breakfast ready after my shower."

"I can help," Lance mumbled. His eyes never even opened.

Keith chuckled. "It's okay. Hunk will probably help."

"Mmkay." And just like that, Lance drifted back to sleep.

"Do you think you can take Lance somewhere today? You and Shay?" Keith asked.

Hunk looked at him over his shoulder from the stove after he flipped one of the blueberry pancakes. "Take him somewhere?"

Keith nodded, pausing from chopping onions for the fried potatoes. "Pidge is supposed to come over and hang out."

Hunk grunted. "Are you finally going to say something to her?"

Hunk had a way of stabbing right to the heart of the matter, but Keith couldn't be upset. He was the one who'd let this get out of hand. "Yeah. I don't want Lance around to hear it if she doesn't take what I say to heart."

"You really think she won't?"

"No. I think it will be fine, honestly. She's good-hearted. I just don't know where all this bullshit is coming from," Keith said, frowning down at the onion on the cutting board. "But I know it's ending today. If she won't listen to me," he added with a shrug, "and clean up her attitude, I guess I know how important my friendship is to her."

"And Shiro?"

"He'll get it this afternoon when he gets home from work. If it doesn't go well, then we're out. I'm not letting Lance deal with this another week."

Hunk sighed. "Yeah. I hate to see you fight with your family, but I was ready yesterday to find some way to leave." He poured another batch of batter into the pan.

"If Lance had told me before we went to bed Wednesday what she did at the escape room, we would have left that night." He dumped the onions into the pan with the already chopped, boiled potatoes and the peppers and drizzled a little oil on it. That done, he brought the pan over to the stove and stood next to Hunk to turn on the heat.

"He won't let me say anything to her," Hunk mentioned, poking at the pancake with his spatula. "It's hard not to. And it kills me, because other than this Lance thing, she's awesome."

"She is awesome. And my best friend. I never thought she'd be like this when I found someone."

"I'm sure she'll come around," Hunk assured him.

"Is that your positive outlook talking?"

"It's always his positive outlook," Shay said, settling into a chair at the breakfast bar. "He can't help it."

Keith laughed as Hunk turned, wagging his spatula at her. He opened his mouth to respond, but stood there for a minute while she simply looked back at him. "Yeah," he finally said, "I got nothing."

"Told you," Shay said with a smirk.

"Keith wants to have a talk with Pidge," Hunk told her. "He wants us to take Lance somewhere. Which is good, I need some supplies to make the things for Pidge's party Colleen asked me to."

"She roped you into cooking for it as well?" Keith asked.

"Oh yeah. I'm making some Cuban dish Lance mentioned to her. Since he can't cook…" Hunk said, trailing off with a little laugh. "And dessert."

"I'm supposed to create some dips. Not from a can or tub," Keith said. "I'll give you a list if you don't mind? And Shiro's debit card and PIN number. He can pay for this."

Hunk chuckled. "Of course! I just hope we get to actually go to the party."

"That's on Pidge and Shiro."

"Hey guys!"

Lance came into the kitchen, smiling his sunshine smile on everyone. Keith could tell it wasn't quite his bright and beautiful smile. Keith hadn't seen that all week, but this was the one Lance wore to hide his worries. They all greeted him good morning, and Keith stepped sideways along the counter to the Keurig to make coffee for Shay and Lance.

He felt Lance's arms come around his waist and he turned his head for a kiss. Keith knew Lance only felt comfortable enough to do this because Shiro was gone. It made Keith's anger boil a little more.

"Lance, I need to run to the store," Hunk said after Lance hugged him good morning too. "Want to come?"

Lance looked at Keith, "Are you going, too?"

"Nah, I've got some stuff to do here. Go spend some time with Hunk and Shay."

"You're getting rid of me, aren't you?"

Keith aimed a grin at him as he slid a mug across the counter to Shay. "Guilty. But only cause I want to yell at Pidge. Not cause I want you gone."

Lance winced. "Are you…"

Keith interrupted him. "Dead sure. Don't worry about it, sweetheart," he said, knowing Lance would definitely worry all day. "I told you, you did nothing wrong, so leave it to me."

The front door opened and Keith stood up from the couch. Pidge, lugging her laptop with her, looked at him a little startled. Then cast her eyes around the room only to see they were alone. He watched her and literally could see her mind calculating things until her expression shifted to resigned. "Hey."

"Hey," he replied.

"Um. I thought you were out," she said, looking back at the door. "Your car was gone."

"So you thought it'd be okay to come here? Hunk took it to go to the store with Shay and Lance."

"Oh." The gears kept turning and she grimaced. "Shiro and Allura?"

"Work," he said.

"Oh."

"We're going to have a talk."

He watched her posture slump. "I figured."

"Sit."

It almost looked as if she would refuse and turn around to walk out. He watched her stand there thinking it over and weighing her options, which was typical of Pidge.

"If you don't hear me out now, you're telling me this friendship isn't important to you and you'd rather give it up than talk to me about whatever the fuck is wrong."

She visibly winced, her expression morphing into stricken. Without another word, she came around the chair and dropped into it. She didn't meet his eyes; she instead stared at her knees. Keith sat back on the couch, sitting forward with his forearms resting on his thighs.

He'd thought long and hard how to approach this. Yelling at her, he knew, would get nowhere. She'd just clench her hands and dig in more stubbornly. No, Keith knew exactly how to hit her. He'd hurt her, though the thought of doing so pained him. But she'd hurt him, and while he wasn't a vindictive person, he knew this would be the way to get through to her. She was his closest and best friend, and best friends know exactly how to hurt you in the worst way.

Pidge sat, tensely, waiting for the yelling to begin, so he let her stew in anticipation for it. He kept his expression blank, which he could see confused her a little. She was waiting for an outburst. Instead, he let the tension build in her until he saw she was about to burst. Then, in the most hurt tone he could muster, said, "You've disappointed and embarrassed me so much."

He knew immediately it was the right thing to say. She looked devastated as her face crumbled and she squirmed in her chair under his gaze. "Keith."

"No. Let me talk," he said, reverting to a calm and neutral tone. For someone who usually spoke to her with either affection or teasing, this emotionless voice from Keith wasn't something she understood. She remained quiet, still staring at her knees, and nodded.

"I'm hurt, too, that you think so little of my choices. I spent weeks hyping you up to Lance, Hunk, and Shay. Telling them what a great friend you are, what a fun person. Smart and loving. I couldn't wait for you to meet them. Lance was so excited to come here and meet you and Shiro when we first thought about it. But even before this trip, you showed your true colors. Showed me I really didn't know my friend at all. In over fifteen years of being best friends, you show me you're childish, spiteful, and mean. Three things I never thought I'd say about you."

She squirmed more and reached up to rub at her eyes. He could see she was fighting back tears, but she still didn't say anything.

"So, that embarrasses me. I told them about one person and you show you're nothing like that. If you're mad at me for not saying anything sooner, for waiting a few days to call you and tell you about us, take it out on me. But to be honest, that's the shittiest excuse I've ever heard for either you or Shiro to be mad." He was impressed with himself that the anger building in him wasn't showing in his voice. Yet. "I wait a few days and you decide Lance is a bad person? Where is the logic in that?"

He waited, watching her think. She didn't answer right away, apparently unsure if it was her turn to say something. "He's not a bad person," she finally said in a small voice.

"From your attitude this week, I find it hard to believe you think that. What irritates me more is he doesn't even want me to say anything to you. He's defending you and trying to justify your words and actions in his head. He thinks he deserves it!" Now his voice was rising, as was his anger. He stood up and she finally looked at him. "He thinks so low of himself already that he believes there's a reason you hate him."

"I don't hate him!"

"You sure as hell don't fucking show it!" He reached up to tug his fingers through his hair. "Do you realize how torn up he is right now? He thinks I'm about to dump him!"

She looked stunned. "Keith…"

"He's so afraid of losing me, he's allowing you to treat him like shit. He keeps thinking he did something wrong. All he's done is love me! What the fuck is wrong with that, Pidge?"

"Nothing, nothing…"

"You have no idea of the kind of person he is. You have no idea of how amazing he is. You have no idea how much I love him. I've never known anyone as kind and caring as him – and not to just me. To everyone. You seem to like and respect Hunk. Do you honestly think that god of a man would be best friends with the sort of someone you seem to think Lance is?"

"No, no. I don't think that."

"Then what the honest fuck is wrong with you? The escape room the other day? I swear to fuck, Pidge, what you did to him? You're lucky I don't just open the door and kick you out! You have the audacity to show your face here after calling him stupid?"

She sobbed then, shoving her hands against her face and sending her glasses askew.

"What does it make me, Pidge? Stupid for falling in love with him?"

"No."

"Then what is it? Why are you treating probably the biggest hearted man on the planet like he's a piece of shit?"

He waited, arms crossed, for her sobs to trail off. It took a few minutes, and a groping of her hand to the table next to her for the tissues. She quieted a little, rubbing at her face with multiple Kleenex. "I'm sorry," she croaked. "I don't know. I don't know what to do."

"Just tell me why? What is wrong with him?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" he asked, unable to keep the sarcastic sneer out of his voice. "'Nothing' is enough for you to humiliate me? To hurt him?"

She looked to the side, curled in upon herself. "It's not him," she said. "I just. I don't know. I felt like. Unimportant, I guess."

"Unimportant?"

She nodded, rubbing the back of her hand across her nose. "I thought if you ever found anyone to be serious about you'd tell me."

"I was going to tell you."

"I heard it from Shiro," she said, directing her answer to the wall. "Not from you. And he was mad about it, so I got mad about it." She looked back down at her hands, clenching the used tissues. "And you didn't seem to care."

"How did I not seem to care?"

"You brushed it off. It didn't seem like you cared I was upset."

"You were giving me shit on the phone. Of course I cared you were upset, but you were too upset to see it."

"It felt like you didn't care about me anymore. Like I wasn't part of your life."

"How the hell did you gather that from the phone call?"

"It wasn't the phone call. It was not telling me about Lance."

"That's the most childish and idiotic thing I've heard."

"I know," she moaned out. "I know. I hung up and I didn't know what to do. I felt like you weren't my friend anymore."

"How do you expect to stay my friend acting the way you are?"

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. Tears still leaked out and she finally yanked her glasses off, holding them loosely in one hand, while the other continually scrubbed at her cheeks to catch the tears.

Keith watched her for a moment, then sighed. He settled back onto the couch to think how best to continue. "Is this you saying you don't want to be friends anymore?"

It was the perfect thing to say. The look of shock and terror on her face told him he struck her to the heart. As much as it pained him to do it, he knew it was the best thing to say.

"No!" she cried. "No. No. Keith!"

"Cause that's what I'm getting, Pidge. Whether you like it or not, Lance is part of my life now. If you can tell me one thing wrong with him, then do it. What has he done? What is he guilty of?"

"Nothing. H-He seems like a good guy."

"So you're pissed at me? If you're pissed at me, fucking take it out on me!"

"I can't. I'm. I'm scared."

"Scared? Scared of what?"

She shrunk upon herself, curling in the chair and it struck Keith how small she looked. How vulnerable. Her hands rested on her lap, her fingers shredding the huge wad of tissue and her attention was on the motion. "Losing you," she said, her voice so quiet he almost couldn't hear it.

"Losing me?" Keith asked.

"You're my only friend. The only person I really trust. The only person I've ever been close to. Outside of my family." She sniffed and shrugged her shoulders. "I sometimes feel closer to you than them."

"And you think treating my boyfriend like shit somehow helps us stay friends?"

Pidge took a long, shuddering breath, huffing it out.

"Fuck, Pidge. Out with it. What the fuck is wrong?"

She directed her words to her hands. Her voice was flat and strained. "Matt left. You left. I've already lost you. And now you have this new life I'm not part of." She sniffed again before continuing. "I miss you so much. I'm all by myself and there's no one I can talk to or hang out with. All those people at school…they're older. And I know you're older, but none of them ever want to be friends. I've tried, but they all see me as a little kid. You never did. We always had so much fun together. I applied to Altea cause I thought we could be friends again if I moved there."

Keith listened, stunned she thought this way. While he suspected she felt some of the things she mentioned, he hadn't realized it was this bad. He'd been gone for two years and nothing like this had ever come up. "Pidge, we've never stopped being friends."

She plucked at a thread hanging from the hem of her shorts. "It felt like it."

He was silent for a moment; he was still angry, but now he understood her mind a little more. Why she decided to take everything out on Lance was still unclear, but he definitely would need to fix this. "I don't know why you think that. Why you feel that. I've always considered you my best friend."

"I've seen your Facebook posts," she said. "I know you're doing all this fun stuff. Made these new friends and have your boyfriend."

"True, but how does that affect our friendship?"

"Why would you need me, then?" Her voice when she said it was full of tears. "I'm just a dumb kid who was always hanging around my big brother. We're friends by default. If Matt and Shiro weren't friends, you'd have never thought of me as a friend."

"You've got one thing right. You are a dumb kid for thinking that. Okay, yeah, we met because of our brothers. And yeah, we hung out at first because our brothers did. But, you're my best friend because you're my best friend. Not because you're Matt's little sister. Not because I had nobody else. You're one of the few people who understands me. You think I faked all the fun you and I have had?"

"But you left…"

"I had to, Pidge. You know that. The job was perfect for me. There was nothing here for me. You know how long I looked. And I think it was good to see a new place and it worked out. You know how hard it was for me to leave. I didn't want to, but I wasn't going anywhere here. I come home as much as I can. I talk to you and Shiro all the time. I wouldn't do that if I didn't miss you as much as I do."

"It's what it felt like. And when you didn't tell me about Lance, it seemed to confirm my feelings."

"But why take it out on Lance?" he asked. "If you're mad at me you should have said something. You made him the villain for absolutely no reason."

"Who else should I blame? He took you away from me."

Keith sunk his head in his hands, elbows propped on his knees. He sat like that for a few minutes in the silent room, broken only by Pidge's sniffles. Then, after running his hands down his face, he sat up straighter and looked at her. "I know you're not an idiot. I can't believe you just said that."

She finally returned his look, her tear-filled eyes blinking fast. "I don't know how to fix this."

"Do you honestly believe what you said?"

"No. I'm so sorry, Keith."

"That's a start," he said, heaving a sigh. "I don't know, either, Pidge. Lance is so hurt that I don't think apologizing to him will help much, but you should. You're lucky he has probably the biggest heart in the world."

"Do you think he'll ever forgive me?" Pidge looked at him anxiously, and he could read behind the question. Would Lance forgive her and would Keith forgive her? Did she completely screw up their friendship?

"Knowing him, he probably will. Eventually. I don't think this will be solved before we leave. But if you want any sort of forgiveness, you have to apologize now. You're so scared of losing our friendship, you did the one thing that pretty much guaranteed it." She winced. "I won't lie, Pidge. I'm incredibly pissed off at you. If you do nothing…" he shrugged, waving one hand dismissively. "You're telling me our friendship isn't important to you. If you apologize to him, it will help. But, it will take some time to rebuild my trust," he said, pressing that hand against his chest. "Who knows how long it will take Lance?"

She nodded, chewing on her lower lip. More tears fell and she reached for fresh Kleenex. "That's fair," she replied. "I deserve that."

"I'm glad you see that." He stood up. "The others should be home soon," he told her. "I'm going for a walk to clear my head. I don't want to see you again until you've apologized to him."

Then, though it hurt him to be so harsh, he walked around her chair and went out the front door.

A/N:

Bless all of you for your patience! I'm excited to bring this next part to you! It was so much harder to write the angst with Pidge and Shiro than I thought it would be. I generally write fluff...and I generally like both characters. To paint them in a less than nice light was difficult, to say the least.

I promise, after the hurt, I will bring the sweet fluff back! I'm pretty sure you'll be happy by the end of the ride!